Carousel
by Kay Willow
Summary: They all lose track of Orihime at an amusement park. She wants to go on a ride with someone special... //fluff fluff fluff. Ichigo/Orihime//


**.carousel.**

They bickered for a solid five minutes about what to buy for lunch and how to split up the lunch tab: Ishida didn't want to split the bill evenly and Chad did, and although he might not have considered it worth arguing about, Ichigo was willing to go to bat for him. Both Renji and Rukia were willing to contribute aggression on principle of the thing. When Ichigo looked up, he realized that Inoue had vanished, nowhere to be found.

"Hey," he said, frowning at the others, "has anyone seen Inoue?"

The others looked at each other as if Inoue might suddenly whip off her Renji mask and shout "Boo!" but Renji's scowl did not change and no Inoue appeared in their midst.

"We should split up and look for her," Ishida suggested, already scanning the rest of the crowd.

"No, you guys get in that line and order our lunch," Ichigo argued, and shoved away before anyone could argue back.

She had to be here somewhere, she had been with them before they started snapping at each other, after asserting that for lunch she would have _two hot dogs and a Coke and one of those cinnamon sticks -- oh, and maybe another cotton candy?_ while still wielding her third cotton candy of the day. Ichigo didn't know where she put all that stuff away, but she couldn't have gotten far.

He found her a short distance away, sucking down the last of her cotton candy and looking thoughtfully into the distance. When he put a hand on her shoulder, starting, "Inoue--" she turned and brightened immediately.

"Kurosaki-kun!" she exclaimed delightedly. "I was just looking at the swing carousel. Do you want to ride it with me?"

Ichigo looked up to where she pointed, at the tall attraction with its rows of dangling seats, spinning out in wide circles as momentum built. "Now?" he asked. "We were just about to have lunch."

Inoue made a thoughtful sound, her hair falling back over her shoulders as she looked up at it. "Ah. I'm not all that hungry right now, actually." He eyed the cotton candy stick (her _third_ of the day) and didn't comment. "That's why I just ordered a light lunch," she added.

_That's a -- that's a light lunch?_

She spun around, reaching up and taking his hand on her shoulder and pulling it down to tug him slightly in that direction. "Let's go ride it!" she said, laughing a little. "Look at how short the line is. It'll only take five minutes~"

Ichigo resisted, trying to think of reasons why he should refuse, anything other than how happy she seemed to be at the prospect and how he'd hate to have to be the one who dragged her back down to reality. "Okay," he said after a beat. "Lemme just get the others."

But Inoue didn't let go of his hand. "They're ordering," she said, looking behind him at their friends by the stand. "They can't ride now, they have all that food. We could ride it together. Just... you and me."

That sounded a little -- scandalous to Ichigo's school-trained ears. A little coupley. But Inoue looked so hopeful, and they _were_ going to have their hands full, and it was _Inoue_ so it couldn't really mean anything, she probably just didn't know how it sounded.

"...fine."

The swings were bigger than they looked, and when they got onto the ride Inoue skipped ahead to find a two-seater for them. She giggled a little as they lowered the protective bar, looking out into the crowd. "I've always loved these things," she said. "I love _amusement parks_. Isn't this fun?"

It was... tolerable, he supposed. He was still not inclined to go with his kid sisters, but this trip with his friends had been more enjoyable than he'd thought it would be. Ichigo asked idly, "Don't they usually take pictures for you to buy? Like, at the end of the ride?"

"Oh! That would be a great idea!" Inoue said, excited even before the ride began to move. "I want one! We could get them framed."

_And use it as a tool to shut Karin up about how I'll never stand a chance with a hot girl like Inoue._ Ichigo smirked a bit as the swings lifted off the ground, still starting to move in lazy circles and building up speed.

In short order they were whriling, the force of their spin propelling the swing in a wider and wider arc. Gravity pulled them together, pressing Orihime up against Ichigo's side, but she didn't seem to notice or care. She was laughing and making loud awed sounds as they circled high over the park, looking down fearlessly, and Ichigo thought, really thought -- _Yeah, this was a good idea._

He should've known something was wrong when she stopped giggling delightedly, but it wasn't until the swings were slowing and he looked down at her against his arm, almost -- looking forward, maybe, to her shining expression -- and found her pale and drawn-looking, lips clamped tightly shut.

"Inoue?!" he said, startled, shoving up the safety bar and jumping down from the swing while it was still slowing to a stop, moving in front of her to help her down.

"Kurosaki-kun," she whispered, eyes wide, "I feel... very, very sick."

He helped her walk to a nearby bench and then hovered for a beat, watching her lean forward with her head in her hands. _It's all that cotton candy,_ he thought about remonstrating her, but that wouldn't help. _Oh god she's going to throw up,_ he thought about saying, and panicking a little, but that definitely wouldn't help.

What did people normally do to nausea victims? Ichigo bit his lip and then settled beside her, gently stroking her long hair back from her face, to the nape of her neck. This sort of gesture was supposed to be soothing, or -- or was it just hygienic? Maybe the soothing part was that he was supposed to rub her back. He did that too, just in case, and something must have worked, because slowly, slowly, the tension eased out of her body.

Finally, and without lifting her head, she murmured, "Thank you."

Ichigo let himself relax, resting his hand comfortingly on her back. It was her own fault for eating so much cotton candy and then going on a ride like that, but he was relieved she felt better anyway. "No big deal. You're okay now?"

Inoue straightened, brushing her hair back, and offered him an awkward smile, her cheeks still red. "Yes. Yes! I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" he said, not fooled. "You still look flushed."

"It's not..." she started, the color deepening, and she glanced away to smile at no one. "It's not because I'm not feeling well. It's just that -- you looked after me, and -- your hand is warm, so--"

_Shit,_ Ichigo thought, flushing a bit himself, and he yanked his hand back, looking around to make sure no one he knew had seen that. That was embarrassing. Someone was bound to think the wrong thing, and those bastards would never let him live it down -- or worse, might think he had some sort of dishonorable intentions towards Inoue. And, fuck, that just wasn't true at all.

Or, he hadn't thought it was, until she turned soft brown eyes to him with her expression almost disappointed, or hurt, and then suddenly he wanted her never to look like that again.

_--There are worse things than to be caught helping a pretty girl. A friend, even. It's not -- that bad._

"Of course I did," Ichigo muttered, avoiding her gaze. "I don't... like it when you're not feeling well. You should be smiling."

There was a brief beat, a few moments of silence while those words settled and he wondered if she thought he was a creep now, before Inoue leaned against his side. He darted a glance at her to find that, like him, she was still looking off to the side, just -- leaning, as if gravity had again drawn her in. It felt different than it had on the swing carousel: calm, and warm, and strange. He could feel her breathing, and her hesitance, now that there was no rushing wind to drown it out.

"I think I feel better," she offered. "We could... go back to the others, now."

"No," Ichigo said. He didn't even have to think about it. "When you're sure you feel better -- then we'll go."

His hand found hers, coiled nervously against her leg, and held on.


End file.
